Ukuleles

Hilo was its marvelous, crowded self. The market teaming with wild shoppers. Almost finished my gift shopping. Funny how it didn't occur to me earlier. Usually I love purchasing presents. Kyr and I bought ourselves a beautiful ukulele to share. It is hand made with Koa wood and has the most beautiful sound. I imagine a banjo - ukulele duo. Although heading home, before we even got to the picnic area, Kyr had already taught himself several chords. Whereas diligent attempts by me this morning yielded very recalcitrant fingers on the frets. And here I fancied myself having great finger dexterity. It is hard to have a musical genius for a son when one can barely grasp a ukulele fret board.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a park by the ocean. Mistaya received a huge jaw workout trying to eat my Le Brea bagettes. She valiantly struggled even picking out large pieces of bread that were interfering with her ability to get to the filling. I told her that she'll return home with a huge bulgy jaw having spent two weeks eating my food.

We attended Hapuna for a brief late afternoon boogy session. I tried to snorkel but terrified myself with the swirling sand obstructing the view. We met the Arthurs at Tommy Bahama cafe for supper. I loved the waiter because he was not condescending about us trying to order cheaply before the 6pm happy hour cut off. In fact he was super concilatory and offered us many warnings. Unfortunately my love for the waiter didn't translate into love for the food. Exactly four hours after eating I was violently ill - repeated vomiting. I was really in good form until moments before so I think it was staph. A bit achey this am. But good to go to the Place of Refuge for a bit of serenity, a tiny snorkel and best of all purchase of beautiful hawaiian fabric for our shower curtain.

Made a conditional offer on the vet clinic building in Nelson. The last thing I want to be thinking about on my holiday but the timing of the landlord's listing has backed me into a bit of a corner.